IBM Helps Preserve Germany’s 40 PETABYTE Climate Data Archive

It is the largest trove of climate data in the world.

IBM will run a 40-petabyte robotic tape library to archive climate simulation data generated by supercomputers at the German Climate Computing Center (DKRZ). It is the largest trove of climate data in the world. According to Scientific Computing, the archive has more than 40 petabytes of data and is projected to grow by roughly 75 petabytes annually over the next five years. The High Performance Storage System software solution managing the data was developed by IBM and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

“Addressing the challenges of climate change and its impact on the environment and daily life for everyone on the planet requires gathering, storing and analyzing massive amounts of data,” said Professor Thomas Ludwig, director of the German Climate Computing Center. “We rely on the technology and the expertise of IBM to help us provide this essential service to the world’s foremost climate and environmental research institutions.”

“At IBM, one of the values we try to live up to daily is providing innovation that matters for our company and the world,” said Markus Koerner, vice president, IBM Global Technology Services. “I can think nothing that matters more than helping to effectively predict and mitigate the impact of climate change, and we believe the technology and services we provide for this Big Data challenge will significantly help advance the science of climate change.”

According to IBM, the archive includes data on:

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Oil Spill Impact Simulations

The impact of climate change on West Africa, the Mediterranean, Central Europe, Indonesia

Air traffic routes

3D models for city construction

Weather prediction

The organizations which will use the archive include:

European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts

Karlsruhe Institute for Technology

German Meteorological Service

Rechenzentrum Garching of the Max Planck Society

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Max-Planck Institute for Meteorology

University of Hamburg

Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht Center for Materials and Coastal Research

Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research

West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use

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Brian Heater has worked at a number of tech pubs, including Engadget, Laptop, and PCMag (where he served as Senior Editor). Most recently, he was as the Managing Editor of TechTimes.com. His writing has appeared in Spin, Wired, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast and various other publications. He hosts the weekly Boing Boing interview podcast RiYL, has appeared as a regular NPR contributor and shares his Queens apartment with a rabbit named Lucy.

Keri is the founder of Raw Science TV. She is a bioengineer and ballet dancer so is interested in the intersection of science and media. She is also active in empowering girls and women in STEM through access to energy and telemedicine. You can follow her on Facebook: @KeriKukral

Lydia works in cancer research as a technical science editor and content creator. She is a futurist interested in space exploration and social initiatives. She is also the co-founder of Givdo, a gaming app where users play sponsored games to win money for charity. You can follow her on Twitter: @lydeey

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